In these few chapters, the threat of female sexual expression and how setting affects the furthering of the story are the themes. Dracula's attack against Mina can be pictured sexually in view of the fact that he forces her to drink from a wound on his bare chest and be "flesh of my flesh" and "blood of my blood." His language and tone shows sexual aspects. Remembering that Mina was an orphan, we can see that Bram Stoker is viewing it as immoral ruling class preying on vulnerable women of the lower classes. She has now been horribly violated and in drinking his blood, Mina has been polluted by the vampire. Her purity is at risk. Another theme that comes up later in this section is the idea of the East and how it resembles certain concepts. This is an interesting and complex theme that plays itself out in different ways throughout the novel. Previously, Eastern and Western knowledge was mentioned quite often in the story, such as many of the weapons used to fight the vampire are from the East. THere is something sinister and dark about the East. Especially considering that here, the East means anything to the east of Austria, the East seems to symbolize all that is unknown and unfamiliar. When Van Helsing compares the heroes to the crusaders, and say that like teem, they must journey "towards the sunrise", in this case meaning toward the east, he is linking them to a Western invaders who mst attack an Eastern enemy. The atmosphere Stoker creates in the chapters set in the East is often fairly dark: grim peasants, demons that walk the earth, wolves, and dramatic moonlit forests.
Critical Passage
"Thus are we ministers of God’s own wish: that the world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, whose very existence would defame Him. He has allowed us to redeem one soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem more. Like them we shall travel toward sunrise; and like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause." (P.278)
Here in Chapter XXIV, Van Helsing summarizes the nature of their quest to Mina as they chase Dracula across Europe. This passage is extremely significant because it shows the bold lines between good and evil. Stoker intend Dracula to be as much an evil devilish character as a novel of horror and suspense. Because of the anxieties of the Victorian age, there were threats in which scientific advancement posed to centuries of religious tradition, and threats that broadened the liberties for women. Dracula makes bold distinctions between the socially acceptable and the socially unacceptable; between right and wrong; between holy and unholy. Van Helsing compares his mission to one of "the old knights of the Cross," we should understand him as a product of Victorian fear and righteousness.
Literary Devices
Simile
"As he placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it - had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal." (chapter 22)
- Through this quote, Stoker shows the sudden change that appears on Mina that is now visible that she is becoming a vampire.
In these few chapters, the threat of female sexual expression and how setting affects the furthering of the story are the themes. Dracula's attack against Mina can be pictured sexually in view of the fact that he forces her to drink from a wound on his bare chest and be "flesh of my flesh" and "blood of my blood." His language and tone shows sexual aspects. Remembering that Mina was an orphan, we can see that Bram Stoker is viewing it as immoral ruling class preying on vulnerable women of the lower classes. She has now been horribly violated and in drinking his blood, Mina has been polluted by the vampire. Her purity is at risk. Another theme that comes up later in this section is the idea of the East and how it resembles certain concepts. This is an interesting and complex theme that plays itself out in different ways throughout the novel. Previously, Eastern and Western knowledge was mentioned quite often in the story, such as many of the weapons used to fight the vampire are from the East. THere is something sinister and dark about the East. Especially considering that here, the East means anything to the east of Austria, the East seems to symbolize all that is unknown and unfamiliar. When Van Helsing compares the heroes to the crusaders, and say that like teem, they must journey "towards the sunrise", in this case meaning toward the east, he is linking them to a Western invaders who mst attack an Eastern enemy. The atmosphere Stoker creates in the chapters set in the East is often fairly dark: grim peasants, demons that walk the earth, wolves, and dramatic moonlit forests.
Critical Passage
"Thus are we ministers of God’s own wish: that the world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, whose very existence would defame Him. He has allowed us to redeem one soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem more. Like them we shall travel toward sunrise; and like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause." (P.278)
Here in Chapter XXIV, Van Helsing summarizes the nature of their quest to Mina as they chase Dracula across Europe. This passage is extremely significant because it shows the bold lines between good and evil. Stoker intend Dracula to be as much an evil devilish character as a novel of horror and suspense. Because of the anxieties of the Victorian age, there were threats in which scientific advancement posed to centuries of religious tradition, and threats that broadened the liberties for women. Dracula makes bold distinctions between the socially acceptable and the socially unacceptable; between right and wrong; between holy and unholy. Van Helsing compares his mission to one of "the old knights of the Cross," we should understand him as a product of Victorian fear and righteousness.
Literary Devices
Simile
"As he placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it - had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal." (chapter 22)
- Through this quote, Stoker shows the sudden change that appears on Mina that is now visible that she is becoming a vampire.